Purple Dogs
by LittleKitten
Summary: After the events in "Learning Curve", Sam Carter muses about her CO...


"Purple Dogs"  
by LittleKitten  
  
~*~  
  
/////  
Jack smiled as he sat down next to the young girl. She'd remembered, even after the avarium.   
  
It was so much better to see the smiles and hear the laughter of young children; rather than the emptiness and silence that had haunted these halls before.  
  
"Hi Merrin."  
  
She just looked at him, her eyes not displaying recognition. She seemed so much younger now, even just looking at her. It was obvious she wasn't going to talk to him. Maybe she couldn't remember how to.  
  
"Okay. I guess we'll just have to get to know one another all over again." He picked up a purple crayon and started to draw.  
  
Merrin stopped her attack on the wall to look over at what he was doing, before smiling and scribbling all over it.  
  
"You're right. *What* was I *thinking*? Have you ever seen a dog?" She looked blankly at him, but she was listening with interest as he continued to draw a dog on the wall. "Dogs are my favourite people. Some have tails, some don't. Not a lot of purple dogs, though..."  
  
Her face lit up as she smiled.  
  
The smile of a happy child.  
/////  
  
  
Carefully Sam picked up the sweet-smelling mug of coffee and brought it to her lips without so much as a glance away from the computer screen. At least it wasn't scalding hot now - the way it had been when Daniel had brought it to her earlier.  
  
She ran her tongue over the part of her lip that was still tingling and sore. Oh well, it was the thought that counted; he was still sharing his precious blend of coffee with her, even if he had failed to warn her of the extreme temperature of it.  
  
Sitting back as she watched the simulation run on the computer screen, she sighed, wishing Merrin was still there to help her.  
  
"It's not every day you meet an eleven-year-old smarter than you." Colonel O'Neill's voice interrupted, and she almost inhaled the liquid she was about to drink. "Sorry." He smiled sheepishly.   
  
Of course, she knew he didn't actually mean it. It was his favourite pastime; sneaking into her lab unnoticed - and he was actually getting quite good at it.  
  
"Sir. Hi..."  
  
"Still working on the naquada generator?"  
  
"I think I've just worked out what I've been doing wrong. If I-"  
  
"Nah-ah!" He held his hands up, and she smiled.  
  
"Sorry Sir."  
  
"You *were* going to inform the General this time, weren't you?"  
  
"Yes...I just need to set up first." She placed her coffee back down to remove a part of the reactor from his hands. He really should realise by now that fiddling with things sometimes got them into serious trouble. "This would be so much easier-"  
  
"If Merrin was still here." He finished; a sad, ironic smile tugging at his lips.  
  
"Yeah." She conceded quietly, as he opened a game of solitaire over the completed simulation and began to play.  
  
Sam leant back slightly against the workspace, watching him unnoticed.  
  
Jack O'Neill really was a complex character. On one hand, he had a focused, strategic military mind when it was needed. Then there was the sarcasm; the jokes and quips he used to hide his true emotions behind.  
  
Maybe it was deeper than she thought - he had a lot to hide behind it. Black ops, memories of Iraqi prisons...maybe it was his way of keeping sane.  
  
Well...*almost* sane, at least.  
  
Sam turned slightly, noticing the purple plant she kept in her lab. It was still out place - Merrin had moved it when they had been working on the reactor together. She looked at the worn-out stubs from the pencils Merrin had used to draw the reactor, before she picked them up and put them in the bin. She turned again, returning her thoughts to the man currently sitting in her lab.  
  
And then there was also the ability to care so deeply for his friends and family. It was no wonder he got on with children. He still acted like one half the time.  
  
He'd had Charlie, loved and lost. Maybe it was this that made him care about children so much.  
  
Then Reetou Charlie, who wouldn't confide in anyone but him; whose 'mother' only trusted him. Maybe it was because she knew that he wouldn't let anything happen to the boy.  
  
Cassandra, who had asked for him when she realised Sam was a host. Who he'd bought a dog for, much to Janet's now despair.  
  
And Merrin, who he hadn't wanted to loose everything that was *her* when she went through the avarium. Who he'd risked court-marital for, just so he was be able to show her how to have fun for a few hours.  
  
He finished the game, and turned around to face her.  
  
"That was quick, Sir."  
  
"What do you think I do in my office all day...well, other than play on my Gameboy." He paused for a moment. "Sooo...I was heading for the comissionary. Care to join me?"  
  
"Uh-" Sam glanced at her reactor, deciding that it could wait for a few minutes. "Yeah, jello sounds good to me right now." She smiled, and they left the room together.  
  
  
*fin*  
  
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End file.
